Missing in Action: Top 10 Games That Didn’t Make E3

We’ve heard quite a bit about the games that made the biggest splashes at the Electronic Entertainment Expo. But several titles were conspicuous by their absence.

E3, which took place June 15 to 17 in Los Angeles, is the premier trade show for the global gaming industry. Every major maker of videogame software and hardware saves its big guns for the expo, hoping to outshine the competition with the best games and most shocking announcements.

Sometimes the biggest news at the dog-and-pony show comes from the dogs that don’t bark. Whether the silence stems from publishers focusing on other products, or is an indication that the game’s development is in trouble, an E3 no-show doesn’t exactly inspire a vote of confidence.

With this year’s event in the rearview mirror, Wired.com rounded up a list of the top 10 games missing in action at E3 2010, arranged in ascending order of how surprised we were that they didn’t make the big show.

10. Pikmin 3

Two years ago at E3, Nintendo producer Shigeru Miyamoto surprised a roomful of reporters — and his own PR handlers — when he said that a team was working on a Wii sequel to Pikmin, the adorable, cult-favorite strategy game. Since then, two E3s have come and gone without the game being shown.

Wired.com asked Miyamoto at a roundtable discussion this year about the status of the game, and he replied that Pikmin 3‘s production is proceeding along just fine. The company just chose not to show it in order to emphasize the new Zelda and Kirby games for Wii, which are to be released first.

9. Batman: Arkham Asylum 2

Warner Bros.’ atmospheric take on the Dark Knight was widely praised as perhaps the best comic-book game ever created. A trailer for the sequel showed a sickly Joker and undaunted Harley Quinn plotting their revenge on Bats, promising a whole new nuthouse full of adventure. Although the trailer premiered at the tail end of 2009, we’ve seen neither hide nor hair of it since. (Warner Bros. did not respond to Wired.com’s request for comment on the game’s status as of press time.)

8. Beyond Good & Evil 2

Ubisoft boasts an impressive slate of well-liked franchises, but some gamers have an especially soft spot in their black icy hearts for Beyond Good & Evil, 2003’s story-driven adventure game from star designer Michel Ancel. Its retail sales were disappointing, however, meaning that the sequel was put on the back burner for a long while. Ubisoft finally showed a trailer for the long-lost game in 2008, but that was the last we’ve heard of it. Where’d it go?

Seems like we’re not the only ones asking. “We did get a number of inquiries about Beyond Good & Evil while at E3,” said a Ubisoft representative, who added that the company had no further comment on the game at this time.

7. Max Payne 3, Agent, L.A. Noire

Fresh off a big hit with Western-themed sandbox game Red Dead Redemption, Rockstar Games has all eyes upon it as it prepares to roll out three more heavy hitters on the road to the eventual Grand Theft Auto 5. But the company played hooky from E3 altogether.

Days before the show, the company delayed Max Payne until 2011. Sony raised eyebrows by announcing that Rockstar’s upcoming Agent would be released exclusively on PlayStation 3. The publisher said months later that Agent was scheduled for 2010, but an E3 no-show means that is highly unlikely.

6. Everything that Kinect Was Supposed to Do

Did you guys play that martial-arts game that uses Kinect, Microsoft’s promising new motion controller for Xbox 360? Or the one where you smash a city as Godzilla? Or the skateboarding game where you scan in your own decks? Or the facial recognition software that lets you try on new clothes? Or the four-player quiz game? Or the Netflix app that lets you flick and wave through movies?

Oh, you mean none of that actually exists and all you played was a knockoff of Wii Sports? Yeah.

5. Resident Evil Portable

The serious lack of compelling software for Sony’s PSP was slightly ameliorated by Capcom’s announcement of a portable entry in its Resident Evil series at a 2009 Sony press conference. A year later, we haven’t heard another thing about it, although Capcom did show a new portable Resident Evil game — for the Nintendo 3DS.

“No comment,” said a Capcom representative. Not the most encouraging of words.

4. Final Fantasy Versus XIII and Agito XIII

With Final Fantasy XIII finally available, fans are now turning their attention to the two spinoff titles Square Enix announced alongside the role-playing game at E3 2006. Both games are action RPGs, with Final Fantasy Versus XIII in development for PlayStation 3 and Final Fantas Agito XIII for PSP. Although Square Enix had plenty of games at E3, these high-profile games were not shown in any form.

“E3 is about titles coming in the next year, so that’s our focus,” a Square Enix representative told Wired.com.

Meanwhile, Versus director Tetsuya Nomura got chatty with Japanese magazine Famitsu shortly after E3, showing the first screenshots of actual gameplay and talking about the title’s features. “We’re making preparations for a big announcement” about the game, he said.

3. Milo and Kate

Speaking of Kinect, the presumptive killer app for Microsoft’s motion-control device not only missed the Xbox add-on’s November launch window but took a powder on E3. Milo and Kate, from Fable creator Peter Molyneux, promises to combine Kinect’s technologies in a fascinating way. Milo, a lifelike boy, reacts to your face, your voice and your emotions. Or he would if he really existed.

Wired magazine senior editor Chris Baker caught up with Molyneux at E3. The famed game director said he did not want Milo to overshadow the Kinect launch titles and his own Fable III, which will all be available this year. Molyneux said he will show a new demo of the game in a 20-minute speech at the next TED Global conference, to be held July 13 in Oxford, England.

In typical Molyneux fashion, he gave us a vague teaser: A snail will play a role in the demo. That sounds like a metaphor for something.

2. Wii Vitality Sensor

Nintendo caused more than a few industry-watchers to scratch their heads at last year’s conference when it unveiled the Wii Vitality Sensor, a device that clips onto gamers’ fingertips to measure their heart rate and breathing. Even stranger, the company that is always so quick to push the importance of software over hardware didn’t show any applications that use the peripheral.

Will it be a breakout hit like Wii Fit or a flop like Wii Music? We’ll have to wait. Earlier this year, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said the Vitality Sensor’s software would be shown at E3 2010. It wasn’t.

“We are waiting to show the product in more detail until the right time, and we’ll be sure and let you know once we’ve determined when that time will be,” a Nintendo representative told Wired.com after E3.

1. The Last Guardian

After years toiling in secrecy, the team behind Sony’s astonishing cult hits Ico and Shadow of the Colossus pulled back the veil on their third title at E3 2009. After a fantastic trailer introducing the game’s main characters — a young boy and his monstrous eagle guardian — The Last Guardian went back into hiding.

“We’ll have more info on The Last Guardian in the coming months,” said a Sony representative.

Team Ico is known for taking its sweet time to finish games, so it’s not the most shocking thing in the world that this year’s E3 went by without a mention. With Tokyo Game Show looming in the future, it’s possible the entire year won’t go by without an update on one of the most anticipated games on the PlayStation platform.